LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “… `For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, `plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’…” (Jeremiah 29:11, the Holy Bible).

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BROADCASTERS’ INSTITUTE OPENS: BATAS INTERNET TV is now opening its “broadcasters’ institute”, and is inviting people interested to become radio-TV journalists to join the institute, and learn the rudiments of radio-TV broadcasting through a hands-on training. Interested parties may call 0917 984 24 68, 0922 833 43 96, or may send their email to batasmauricio@yahoo.com.

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CONGRATS, CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: In Cagayan De Oro City, all’s well that ends well for the P107 million Recto-Velez flyover, even if its final completion didn’t take place within the 90-day period promised by Mayor Vicente Emano. What is important now is that the flyover is completed and could be used now by the public to ease up traffic woes in the city. Congratulations, Mayor Dongkoy.

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TAGLE AND BIBLE READING FOR CATHOLICS: I congratulate new Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, who was appointed to the post by Pope Benedict XVI just last Thursday night, October 13, 2011, to replace retired Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales.

Perhaps, with Tagle, the Philippine Roman Catholic Church can now try to focus on strengthening the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Filipino Catholics of the Holy Bible, side-by-side with its other advocacies for it would seem that almost 99 percent of Filipino Catholics do not even know even just one passage of the Bible.

This is unfortunate, considering that knowing the Bible is a pre-requisite to a healthy and robust faith, a faith that can move mountains, a faith that will bring eternal life with God. As it is, among Christian believers in the Philippines, Catholics appear to be the least knowledgeable of the Bible and this is no laughing matter.

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PRAYERS FOR WARRING LEADERS OF GOV’T: Chief Justice Renato Coronas’s blast against Malacanang and Congress during the annual convention of the Philippine Judges Association last Thursday, October 13, 2011, only confirms once more the long-simmering feud among the three great branches of government, brought about by differing political persuasions among their leaders.

All that ordinary Filipinos can do now is to pray that God, in His great mercy, will intervene, and instill in the hearts of our leaders the fear and love of Him, and inculcate in the minds of those who wield power now in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government that they, too, like all others before them, will, sooner than later, fade away before they even know it.

Let us pray that our leaders will be inspired by God to remember that they are His mere trustees, nothing more, nothing less, to take care of the Filipino people and that, if they fail in this divine trust, there will be no other place for them, and their children down to the third and fourth generations, but hell---an eternal place of worm and fire.

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GOD’S BLESSINGS, PART VII: This is the final part of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 of the Bible, about God’s blessings to those who listen to Him and who obey His commands: “…Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them…”